Page 76 of Romeo
“So we need to tread carefully until some time has gone by,” Stephano went back to what he’d been saying. “After all, you did have this man kidnapped and beaten.” He motioned to Jarret. “Then you laid bombs out to harm anyone who dared to rescue him.”
“Of course I did,” she replied. “Those men came there with weapons, right? They came to kill me perhaps. Kill my men and they did kill them. I lost…” Valencia paused and looked around at everyone in the room.
“You lost?” Talon asked her. “Or did Deacon and O’s crime syndicate lose?”
Valencia folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them. “I suppose I don’t care if I’m locked up.”
“Why would you say that?” I asked.
Looking up at me, she replied, “I-I think it’s going to take some time for me to get right?” She sighed. “Maybe Mr. Descalia and…” She looked up at Talon. “What is your name?”
Talon cocked his head at her and snapped, “You don’t know a Walker when you see one?”
She shook her head. “Why would I?”
“Deacon would,” Liv answered this. “He knew our faces, our pasts, our locations. Hell, he knew all about each of us.”
Shrugging, Valencia replied, “I suppose I never paid attention? He was always planning something. And until O was—” she halted then went on, “Until she died, I was at school in England. Then after she died, I came back to America and I was busy.”
“With what?” Redemption asked. “Or do we want to know?”
“Returning children and women to their homes that O had in custody,” Della spoke up.
We all looked over at her.
Nodding, Della admitted, “That was what I helped V with in the last couple of months since O died. There ended up being more than three hundred of them in two different locations. So it took us a while to get them all back to where they belonged. And do it so the families never knew who we were.”
Now we all looked over at my twin.
She still stared down at her lap.
I stepped over and placed my hand on her shoulder.
Looking up at me, tears filled her eyes as she admitted, “Ok, so I accidentally found out about them. Maddox came to me and asked about moving some people.”
“Maddox?” I asked her.
“Yes, he ran things for O, I guess? Two months ago, Deacon was gone for a week and so Maddox came to me. I was like… Move people? I didn’t get it. So, he and I drove to this huge warehouse…” Her voice fell away as her hands trembled. “Kids and women…They were in cages,” she whispered. “I just stood there and stared for a while. Then Maddox came over and asked me what I wanted done. He had some buyers, but he needed approval. I turned around and threw up. I just couldn’t believe…” She again started to sob.
I rubbed her shoulder and looked up at Talon, then at Stephano. “I don’t think she’s a criminal. I think she was taken from my family, just like those people in cages were taken from theirs. It was just lucky for her that she was chosen to be Deacon’s sister.”
“Mi dispiace mia cara, but you cannot be unbiased about this,” Stephano gently reminded me. “She is your sister after all.”
“Allora cosa farai con lei?” I asked in Italian so Valencia wouldn’t hear this question.Then what will you do with her?
“La terremo in una bella stanza. Magari chiedi a un terapista di vederla per un po',”We will keep her in a nice room. Perhaps have a therapist in to see her for a bit?
“L'italiano è una delle cinque lingue che conosco,” Valencia interjected.Italian is one of five languages I know.
Stephano stared at her for a few seconds then tilted his head back and laughed.
I stared at Valencia.
She gazed back at me and explained this surprise, “O sent me to college for years. I was away and only got to see her on holidays. So, I took language courses.”
I felt a deep curiosity about my long lost sister, so of course, I asked her, “And what else did you study?”
“I have a Master’s in Justice, a Bachelor’s in Science and a law degree.”
